Megyn Kelly addressed the firestorm that erupted after she assured her viewers that both Santa and Jesus were white. But other than listening with grace and dignity to an African American guest explain what was offensive, I don’t think Kelly did herself any favors with her defense tonight.

KELLY: And by the way, for all you kids watching at home, Santa just is white but this person just arguing that maybe we should also have a black Santa but Santa is what he is. Just so you know, we’re just debating this because someone wrote about it, kids. OK, wanted to get that straight.

And then later:

KELLY: Just because it makes you feel uncomfortable doesn’t mean it has to change. I mean, Jesus was a white man, too. He was a historical figure and that’s verifiable fact, as is Santa - I just want the kids watching to know that.

Tonight, Kelly largely ignored her comments about Jesus. But she insisted she was joking about Santa. She said:

In kicking off the lighthearted segment, I offered a tongue-in-cheek message for any kids watching, saying that Santa, who I joked is a real person whose race is identifiable, is white.

She played the clip and you tell me if you think she was being tongue-in-cheek because it didn’t seem like a joke to me. Furthermore, in the original discussion, she showed a picture of a white Santa and quipped, “Look at him. How can he be alienating?” I’d say she was joking there – but at Harris’ expense. Kelly also said in the original segment that before she read Harris’ piece, she had thought it “ridiculous” that “yet another person” (and I think it was clear whom she meant) was calling it racist to have a white Santa.

This reminds me of Bill O’Reilly’s visit to Sylvia’s restaurant in Harlem. You may recall that O’Reilly meant to praise the African American diners who were so upsacale that it showed how far we’ve come as a society. But he nonetheless revealed his hostility with comments like, “I couldn’t get over the fact… there wasn’t one person in Sylvia’s who was screaming, ‘M-Fer, I want more iced tea.’”

Just like O’Reilly, who later insisted his compliments about Sylvia’s had been twisted by his critics, Kelly now played the victim:

Cue the firestorm of controversy over my declaring Santa’s skin color. Many questioning whether I understand that Santa is a mythical figure. Others suggesting I am a racist who is outraged at the idea of a black Santa.

This would be funny if it were not so telling about our society, in particular the kneejerk instinct by so many to race bait and to assume the worst in people. Especially people employed by the very powerful Fox News Channel.

Well, Megyn, maybe you should remind yourself and your co-workers not to "race bait and to assume the worst" the next time Fox comes up with a racial attack on Oprah Winfrey or Melissa Harris-Perry. Because I recall you sneering about each of their racial sensibilities and using that in segments designed to racially malign them. That’s not counting your relentless efforts to paint the Obama Department of Justice as racially biased because of a decision not to prosecute a New Black Panther Party member – only to clam up once the allegations were discredited.

Kelly also said in her commentary about the Santa segment:

Contrary to what my critics have posited, neither my statement nor Harris’, I’m sure, was motivated by any racial fear or loathing. In fact, it was something far less sinister: a lifetime of exposure to the very same quote, commercials, mall casting calls and movies Harris references in her piece. From Miracle on 34th Street to the Thanksgiving Day Parade, to the national Christmas tree lighting, we continually see St. Nick as a white man in modern day America.

Should that change? Well, that debate got lost because so many couldn’t get past the fact that I acknowledged, as Harris did, that the most commonly depicted image of Santa does, in fact, have white skin.

So now she’s saying she wasn’t joking? That she had good reason to call Santa white? Well, it doesn’t matter. Because I’ll agree Kelly did not intend any harm, racial or otherwise, with her comments. But the road to hell is paved with good intentions. In this case, Kelly revealed a snapshot of her underlying racial attitude (just as O’Reilly did) that can’t be unseen.

As for the white Jesus, Kelly sloughed off that remark by saying:

By the way, I also did say Jesus was white. As I’ve learned in the past two days, that is far from settled.

Actually, what Kelly did was to use the “fact” that Jesus was white to justify keeping Santa white. I didn’t hear her make any claim to have been joking about that.

I do give Kelly credit for hosting and giving what seemed like serious consideration to Zerlina Maxwell, the African American guest who critiqued Kelly in a following segment. This is not something I would ever expect O’Reilly to do.

Showing 24 reactions

You people sit here and bad mouth this woman and call her a race baite with all the race bull shit going on in this country what 3 men can we all look at. AL Sharpton, eric holder and our sad excuse of a president Obama. It 2015 people put the race bull shit away get over your selves and move on

FWIW, my view of Kelly is that she thinks of a lot of the conservative stances she takes as similar to her former role as a lawyer, meaning she sees it as advocating for a side that deserves a voice – and, of course, getting very well compensated for doing so. So while it may be technically true (at least in her mind) that she mostly keeps her personal opinions to herself, she’s still perfectly happy to act as a mouthpiece for the GOP.

That said, I think the bigotry is genuine. Much of the rest of it is calculated. So my guess is she is for maternity leave and, not caring much before then, was happy to promote the Fox News party line (pun intended).

That also said, I suspect her “Santa and Jesus were white” comments were not coming from her personal convictions but from an effort to counteract her sympathy for the woman who thought it was time to end white Santas. Not that the comments were not revealing of her underlying beliefs, or of her feeling the need to make sure she didn’t sound too racially sensitive – but I don’t think she personally thought that kids really needed to know Santa is white.

If I’m right, it would be ironic for Kelly to get into so much trouble when she was genuinely on the side of racial sensitivity. However, as I hope to make clear in a post later today, Kelly has a long record of promoting racial bigotry so I’m not crying for her. I do hope, as I said in the post, that this may be a teachable moment for her. Because while I despise her television personality – and I might well hate her in person, too – I do believe she’s not nearly as right wing or intolerant in real life as her Fox News persona. I also believe she has a sense of decency that has been subsumed by her ambition.

Ah Ellen, thank you so much for that little gem. Please someone tell me, if one possesses a conscience how could you (knowing you are on tape) so completely contradict yourself. I know we all evolve on issues once they become a life experience but wouldn’t you perhaps acknowledge as much?. Beginning to see traits of psycopathy overall here and, no, I do not think that is taking it too far. If you look at the history of her positions including the Leno assertion of being a balanced straight news anchor, one has to wonder if her startling rise at Fox and lack of empathy shows a personality problem.

Oops. I should have read Kevin’s comment first—because I pretty much am repeating it. But damn.

Kelly dances faster and more furious then Les Twins. Zerlina very clearly and simply explained that Kelly “demanded” and “insisted” Santa was white ("He just IS white). And then Megan skittered and tap-danced across the stage. Not exactly a liar….but ding-dong disingenuous.

She was not JOKING to the kids—that was a bunch of bs. She was NOT asserting the same thing as Aisha did in her article—“acknowledging that the overwhelming image of commercial Santa in America is white”—no nononono! She INSISTED and DECLARED he was white, no argument about it.

Then one of the worst most non-Christian Christians shows up and insults Zerlina right away by telling her to get over it! (God, that fake anti-gay preacher/pastor/bishop/con man is a hateful idiot.) While Kelly then tries run defense for herself again—by showing a clip that had nothing to do with what everyone was annoyed by! And so ugly pastor implies Zerlina and anyone offended must be bit-ter. (Pronounced in his best condescending dishonest tone.) And then reassured Kelly that she had done nothing wrong and was even congratulated for not tearing Zerlina (“your lassst guest….”) apart.

But who cares about Santa? The dumbest thing Kelly said was that JESUS was while! Which was completely ignored. And the only mea culpa coming forth on that was that Jesus being white or not was “still not settled.” What th—? We’re still thinking that Jesus just might have been a Caucasian???

Kevin, with all due respect I have to challenge you on your defense of her stance on maternity leave. I watched that exchange and was in complete disbelief because I actually still remembered when she absolutely derided women for expecting maternity leave which took place not long before, wait for it, her first pregnancy. Then, whadaya know, she had completely changed her opinion. It was so blatant it was amazing. You could probably find it somewhere and see for yourself (in fact I thnk it was covered here). What that whole episode shows is precisely what Kelly really is. An entitled woman who is quite happy to be a “taker” when it suits and/or benefits her. Which is the very definition of the right wing today – ‘I expect to get what I want because I must deserve it but I do not agree with people I consider unworthy getting the same as me’. Heartless, self-serving, entitled and, yes, sorry to say, racist. There is just no denying it. she is a full paid up member of the Right Wing of the US of A.

It’s important to note that Kelly was caught on camera lying in a bold faced manner here. In the original quote from her show, she wasn’t just joking about Santa being white for the kids. She was quite serious. Her point was to ridicule the black activist questioning the racial identity of a white icon like Santa Clause. Her intent was to make clear that there was no real debate about the notion of Santa being a Caucasian man. Which of course flew in the face of the column she was discussing – an essay about the difficulties faced by African Americans during a predominantly Caucasian holiday season. There’s a reason that Kwanzaa became a holiday, and it frankly had to do with the idea of Caucasians happily excluding other ethnicities from their reindeer games, so to speak.

Kelly’s desperate attempt to deny and evade the truth of her behavior seems to get most of its vitriol from her concern that her Fox News persona is nowhere near as balanced as she herself may in fact be. In her personal life, she actually seems to be a fair amount to the left of her on camera persona. Her vicious on-air confrontation and slam on Mike Gallagher for questioning her maternity leave is solid evidence of this. But she knows that her on-air persona at Fox News needs to be as far right as possible, if she is to maintain a prime time opinion program on that network.

Her contention of equally challenging both perspectives in a debate on her program is instantly demolished by the multiple clips preserved on this site of her conduct in the new Prime Time show. The reality is that she regularly gives a deferential ear to the more extreme right wing positions espoused by her guests of that nature, just as she regularly yells at, cuts off and dismisses her more centrist guests.

If she’s trying to portray herself as a journalist, she’s sadly mistaken. But on the other hand, that’s been the pose of many Fox News personalities. The closest one they have to a journalist is Shepard Smith. All the rest are pundits at one level or another, repeating the opinions and positions of Roger Ailes. Kelly herself has made her living as just such a pundit. She should embrace it, not hide from it.

Ah so Santa has always been white in every Christmas ad Megyn has ever seen, ergo he must now always be white——or it was just a joke! Take your pick of whichever excuse you prefer…do lawyers study logic during their many years of education? Megyn put little effort into her defense because people with big, loud, ugly opinions don’t care what you think, they just want to enjoy the attention you give them. Congrats on your success Megyn!

Well, Ms Kelly sure did learn at Papa Bill’s knee didn’t she. She even referred to her opening as the “talking points”. As usual, it was the they are all out to get Fox line. Apparently, she is a big target. Who knew. She was never going to touch the Jesus angle as she might have to acknowledge he was from the Middle East and we know her viewers would never tolerate that. After all, every Fox viewer knows if you are from the Middle East you are ergo a terrorist. She played the victim. No surprise there huh?